One of my favourite restaurants in Taipei (and possibly anywhere) is Danny & Company in the Da’an district. I’ve also been to the almost as good D&C Bistro in the Zhongshan district, which is another 10/10 dining experience with excellent ambiance, terrific service, and most of all, heavenly food (my reviews of both places here). And so when read more

I haven’t done any posts on fantasy writing tips for a while – but I have a few lined up, beginning with how to name things in your fantasy world. [digg=http://digg.com/arts_culture/The_Art_of_Fantasy_Names] I’m the first to admit that I absolutely suck at coming up with original and intriguing names. I don’t just mean names for characters, but read more

Man am I on a roll with non-fiction books lately on my iPad mini. After steamrolling Dream Team by Jack McCallum I wasted no time in devouring Bill Carter’s The War for Late Night (subtitle: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy), the exhaustive account of the NBC debacle in 2010 when Conan O’Brien took read more

It’s a Christmas Day miracle! Yeah, you better believe it. I have finally finished watching and reviewing all the 2011 movies (ie, movies with a 2011 release date according to IMDB) on my list and I’m ready to deliver my worst and best lists of the (last) year. Sure it’s a little late, but better read more

Daily Archives: June 11, 2011

That’s what I said at first too. Jiu Xi Yan Shu (direct translation: Misty Trees by Nine Streams) is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Hangzhou, but apparently not a lot of tourists know about it — or so we were told by our taxi driver.

To be honest, there’s not a lot there to do, but the sight of the thick trees surrounding a misty lake is a marvellous sight. Reminded me of Crouching Tiger and the various Chinese martial arts films that followed it. Definitely worth dropping by and taking a few snaps if you have a few minutes to spare.

I was on a high after last week’s X-Men: First Class so I decided to check out the much-anticipated but somewhat mysterious Super 8, written and directed by JJ Abrams (Star Trek, Cloverfield and the TV shows Lost and Fringe) and produced by Steven Spielberg (no explanation necessary).

If I could sum up the film in one word it would be ‘Wow’. The trailers of Super 8 show relatively little compared to the spoil-all trailers we tend to get these days, and thank goodness for that. This is really a film where you should go in with as little knowledge as possible.

So I won’t say much about the plot except that it’s about a bunch of kids making a movie in 1979. It’s a throwback (and I believe has been referred to as a ‘homage’) to those amazing Spielberg films of the 80s, such as E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I just loved those films when I was growing up and it’s obvious from Super 8 that Abrams did too. In the MTV age, they just don’t make movies like this anymore, and it’s a tremendous accomplishment to even attempt to recreate the nostalgia.

Like Spielberg before him, Abrams has created a marvellous motion picture experience with a clever premise, likable, relatable characters, thrilling action, top-notch special effects, awe-inspiring, memorable images, plenty of heart — and most of all — masterful storytelling. I was hooked from the very first image, which I thought was pure genius.

The likability of the film makes it easy to overlook its shortcomings (and granted, there are a few), but Spielberg’s films weren’t exactly perfect either. It remains to be seen whether decades from now Super 8 will be remembered in the same vein of those classic Spielberg films. My guess is probably no, but that doesn’t change the fact that I think it’s one of the best films I’ve seen this year. I would recommend parents taking their kids to check it out. It’s the type of film that made me fall in love with movies in the first place.